We tend to start at the middle when sometimes we need to start at the beginning.

Some of us at Maremel have been setting a non-profit organization up for cloud-based collaboration.  To get them all on the same page,  we helped them move their shared work documents to Google Docs.

Movement screeched to a halt.  Quite a few group members needed a tutorial-style boost into Google Docs — just the basics to get started — though did not raise their hand directly that they didn’t understand the basics.

This need prompted us to return to the web for inspiration.  We took a look at the currently available tools online to understand Google Docs from scratch.  We hope this might be helpful for some folks who might not be comfortable otherwise getting started by trial and error.

Comprehensive Text

• We liked a simple and comprehensive PDF of how to use Google Docs that we found at http://onlineconnections.wikispaces.com/file/view/Google+Docs+Tutorial.pdf.  It seems to cover all the basics clearly and cleanly with screenshots of how to use it.
• Google themselves has their help functions at http://support.google.com/docs/ and an Overview, which isn’t as warm and friendly.

Videos

We found three YouTube videos that provided a good launching point for Google Docs:

• Overall Video Tour on YouTube on Google Docs:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA (animated introduction to the concepts of Google Docs)
• How to use my current email address (not Gmail) with Google Docs:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJpkRbNto7E   (fairly direct introduction and directions)

• Very basic walkthrough of Google Spreadsheet functions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQwvqy4l9MM&feature=relmfu

There are a host of other YouTube videos with instructions.  Just search in YouTube on your specific question, which can be anything from how to use Forms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzgaUOW6GIs&feature=relmfu), details on how to use spreadsheets and documents, and how to use Google Docs in more specific situations.  You can find a host of videos also within the Expert Village YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/expertvillage/search?query=google+docs .

We’ll be adding some digital basics to our blog in the future, just to brush us up on what is available, as well as what the current state of easy learning resources is online.